Rainwear



April 5, 1966 R. E. JENISON 3,243,323

RAINWEAR Filed Jan. 12, 1965 United States Patent 3,243,823 RAINWEAR Robert E. Jenison, Lopez, Wash. Filed Jan. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 425,028 1 Claim. (Cl. 287) This invention relates to rainwear and its object is to prevent liquid running off a raincoat or similar garment onto the legs of the wearer. This is accomplished by providing troughs on the bottom edge of the raingear to catch the water as it runs down and reservoirs in which to hold it. The reservoir is provided with a valve that lets the water in and prevents excessive loss of same and also permits easy removal of water when desired.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of a rain jacket illustrating the invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of same rain jacket.

FIG. 3 is an exploded cross section of trough 2 in FIGURES 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of either reservoir 3 in FIGURES 1 and 2.

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the valve 4 in FIGURES 2 and 4.

FIG. 6 is a right angle view of valve in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an upside down view of reservoir 3 to show everted diaphragm 5 and valve 4.

As liquid (mainly rain water) runs down the sides 1 of raincoat it is caught in troughs (turned up bottom edge of raincoat 2, 2a, 2b and 26). It is then conveyed in the troughs by the force of gravity into a flexible elongated funnel shaped diaphragm 5, which forms the enclosing top of a reservoir 3 (3a and 3b). The liquid is then conveyed into the valve 4, which consists of a small flexible funnel a in the top and a flattened flexible tube b on the bottom. The liquid is channeled into the flattened tube by the funnel a after which it falls into the reservoir 3. It is diflicult for the liquid to escape from the reservoir because of the narrow opening in flattened tube b and the shape of the valve 4 tends to divert the liquid rather than channel it. Also, the force of gravity is opposed to the liquid leaving the reservoir 3 while it is upright.

To empty the reservoir 3 a finger or instrument (attached to garment or otherwise) is forced through the flexible valve 4. Next the diaphragm 5 and the flexible valve 4 are everted. Then the reservoir 3 is turned upside down until it is emptied, FIG. 7.

I claim:

A raincoat having front, rear and side portions and a bottom edge portion, said bottom edge portion being higher at said front and rear portions than at said side portions and being outwardly reversely folded to form downwardly angled troughs, a reservoir being connected to the lowest portion of said troughs, a flexible, elongated funnel shaped diaphragm having an opening in the center thereof enclosing the top of said reservoir, a downwardly extending valve attached to said diaphragm below and around said opening, said valve comprising a small flexible funnel in its upper portion and a rectangular flattened flexible tube in its lower portion, said tube forming a one-way valve through which a liquid may enter said reservoir by gravitational force and through which a liquid may be evacuated by eversion of said tube, said funnel in upper portion of said valve, and said diaphragm.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,473,740 6/ 1949 Welch 287 X 3,137,419 6/1964 Davy 229-62.5 3,189,252 6/1965 Miller 229-62.5

JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

R. J. SCANLAN, JR., Assistant Examiner. 

